Chapter Text
The solution had come to him in an instant.
Five hastily lowered his gun, grabbed the copy of Extra-Ordinary from his pocket and rifled through its dog-eared pages. He found the sticking point in one of his earliest scribblings. There was already a note beside it to revisit the discrepancy when the time came. Well, no time like the present. He applied the new information to the relevant equations and marvelled at how such a slight shift in perspective could fill in so many blanks. Some of his biggest stumbling blocks were gone and the path ahead lay clear. The maths was convoluted, inelegant, but solid. This was it.
Five focussed on the familiar rhythmic thrum of his power as he allowed it to flow through his body. Each new wave of energy built upon the last until its sheer volume threatened to consume him. He fought to silence all lingering notions of doubt and pushed through the discomfort. He welcomed the giddy rush of adrenaline as it swept in to allay his pain and stifle his fear of failure. Within seconds, he watched in awe as the universe surrendered to his will and the flickering electric blue of a temporal anomaly burst into reality.
The time portal continued to grow as he poured every ounce of himself into the swirling void. Sensing that he was reaching his limits, he listened for the tell-tale signs of temporal stabilisation and smiled when he heard the static begin to mirror the hum of his own power. Relieved, Five concentrated on maintaining the portal as he stepped back and took a moment to appreciate his work.
A fire extinguisher suddenly flew through the blue waves of time, narrowly missing his head, and came to rest on the grassy knoll behind him. He turned back to the pulsing mass of electrical energy and saw a group of blurred figures huddled together on the other side. Five hurriedly reached out and pressed his palms up against the glowing blue light. He felt an instant connection as his touch seemed to complete the circuit.
A memory tugged at the back of his mind as he made contact with Time. He was just a kid. Pushing his powers to places he had only dreamed about. He had stepped through Time like walking through an open door. It had felt easy. Natural. He’d felt unstoppable.
Five tried to harness that feeling of euphoria as he pushed his way through the veil. This was working. He could see the next room over as the image began to clear. It was all the incentive he needed to trust his instinct and drive his body into the awaiting vortex.
Only now, something was working against him. No matter how hard he pushed, the portal resisted his advance, and his body ached with the effort of each subsequent attempt to press forward. The temporal storm was fighting back. Every movement he made felt heavy and laboured like he was swimming through treacle. As the pressure grew to searing pain, he cried out but heard no sound over the roar of Time. He was being pulled apart, buffeted back and forth by forces more powerful than anything he could have imagined. He was going to die. After everything he had been through and this is how it was going to end.
But then the barrier collapsed…
The ground gave out beneath him, and he fell forward into another time. He hadn’t accounted for the sudden drop, so he tried to calculate the distance to the ground and the speed of his fall, but there was no time to find a useful conclusion. He hit the floor and sprawled out onto his stomach, just managing to avoid slamming his face into the damp earth. Landings had never been his forte.
He breathed in deeply as he collected his thoughts and took a moment to confirm that he was still in one piece. By some small miracle, he was still together. Through the mild headache, he noted the beginnings of a full body itch and the warning signs of the oncoming ‘jet lag’ that came with travelling through time. The all-over body ache and the tightness in his joints were unexpected, but then he wasn’t as young as he used to be. It had been years since he had last travelled without a briefcase and even longer since he travelled through time under his own power.
Satisfied that he wasn’t going to fall apart, his attention quickly turned to his new surroundings. He was outside, but the space was enclosed by high walls. The storm that ushered him into this world had collapsed in on itself and the deep blue light had now been replaced with that of a glorious Spring day.
In an effort to get his body moving, he managed to push himself up from the muddy floor until, feeling suddenly weak, he had to prop himself up with both arms and rest on his knees. He needed to stand to get a better vantage of where he had landed, but his legs refused to cooperate. They felt heavy as he worked to find his footing but quickly turned to jelly as he fought to keep his balance. As he drew himself to his full height, he noticed that the group of blurry people had moved closer to him and were starting to come into focus. He allowed a second to compose himself before he blinked through the Spring sunshine and looked them in the eye.
A voice in the back of his mind confirmed it. They wore the same faces. They looked to be about the right age. It was them. His family. Only they were alive. Living and breathing and looking at him in complete surprise. He’d done it. He was home.
He was trying to think of what to say when his attention was caught by one of his siblings.
What does he mean ‘little’?
It was then that he realised that the ache wasn’t going anywhere fast. His muscles had complained at every slight movement, while his clothes felt loose against his skin. He glanced down to find his Commission tailored suit hanging from his frame. Excess material on his trousers bunched around his knees and ankles and his belt barely clung around a smaller waist. His favourite shoes were now too big for him. He could wiggle his toes with plenty of room to spare and his tie no longer sat snugly around his collar as he preferred. Even his suit jacket weighed heavily on his shoulders. He unfurled his hands, almost completely hidden by the length of his sleeves, and found them too small and soft to be his own. His eyes snapped back up to his siblings.
Little Number Five.
‘Shit’